Francis Melvin Rogallo granted an honorary doctorate degree from Kite Information and Technology Exchange Society of America for his contributions in research on the Rogallo wing that found its way into the foundations of kiting, hang gliding, and other aircraft. This adds to Dr. Francis Rogallo's legacy.

The Jack Lambie circle spins. Hang Loose project at a school. Plans follow. World coverage results. Near Long Beach, California, Jack was a summer-school principal at Collins School summer session where he also taught a class in science and crafts. Read here part of the story. Hang Loose was a large low cost tailed biplane hang glider using parallel-bars for the pilot to adjust for pitch and leg-mass swing to control roll/yaw, if possible. Media attention continued building the appetite for hang gliding that had been building from many other influencing streams (aeromodelling, soaring, gliding, Rogallo phenomenon, kiting, water-ski kiting, space re-entry test vehicles, art, popular aviation, EAA, etc.). Lambie added a "for everyone now for pennies" deal to get flying by way of school groups and homebuilders. He carried with him his profound associations with the soaring community and aviation community which included Richard Miller who had already been influencing low-cost light personal flight through writings, modeling, exampling, and a carrying of only part of the Barry Palmer legacy via prior Bamboo Butterfly fame and spread-to-the-world plans. Media coverage was extensive and effective. Missing in the article linked is the fact that Richard Miller had already broached the meet's idea with Self-Soar Association; the actual planning and pre-meet meetings fully involved S-SA, Miller, Lambie and others; Low & Slow was one of the key vehicles for announcing the planned meeting to be on May 23, 1971. Lambie and Miller shared their mailing lists with Faust as S-SA did mailings and article support for the planned meeting, a meet that was to be "unplanned." Special note: the jib-sail Bruce Carmichael aluminum Rogallo-winged machine had been priorly demonstrated to Faust in San Clemente, California, along with Richard Miller at a hill very near Bruce's home at the beach; Bruce Carmichael, a professional engineer had professional design experience with hydro-kites that ended up being a pleasant common-interest bridge between Bruce and Faust. Bruce Carmichael would later attend and participate in high-level conferences of flying wings where Jack Lambie would also be in attendance.

Bob Trampenau took a first foot launch flight on a Hang Loos biplane hang glider; he went on to be a revolutionary designer/builder/manufacturer, consultant: See all of his Seedwings.

May 23, 1971 Otto's Great Party .This affected people around the world via publicity in Low & Slow to 23 nations. Later National Geographic spread the word. Popular Science did also. Market building tapped by Bills. Lee group lettersabout the meet and about Richard Miller, etc.ON SAME DAY:Chuck Slusarcyzk and flight friends had three Swoopers flying on a hill in Ohio to join the celebration!

Bautek founded in 1971 but by 1981 they would design and produce the Fafnir and then other bowsprit hang gliders.

Jeff Jobe makes money doing flights for print media ads. From Richland, Washington, Jeff takes on various tasks. One landed him being photographed for a ski movie. Life Magzine picked up on the event and published a photographer of Jeff Jobe in the April 2, 1971, issue. He was gliding with skis in Sun Valley, ______. See 1972 also.

Francis Melvin Rogallo granted an honorary doctorate degree from the international organization Self-Soar Association for his contributions in research on the Rogallo wing that found its way into the foundations of kiting, hang gliding, and other aircraft. "Dr." is OK in our community for this unique leader. Not a Ph.D., but a true scientist on wings leading still with every more patents regarding the Rogallo wing in its various formats.

Paul Wahl of Popular Science? prepares article that alters the marketplace in a huge way. Paul called Faust scores of times. Paul gave Joe a manual on lithography published by the Navy. The most memorable advice from Paul that Joe remembers as Paul wanted to help guide hang gliding publishing: "Stay positive in what is written. Say good things about people."

Did Rogallo invent the triangle control frame for hang gliders?
No, the triangle control frame or A-frame for hang gliders was invented mechanically for
foot launch hang gliders in at least the early year of 1908 in Breslau
in a hang glider in an organized gliding-club setting;
further use was in many places including the Spratt before the 1950s; and a
firm use was in a kite-glider for homebuilders by Igor
Bensen...well published in the first half of 1950s; Mike Burns SkiPlane used
the A-frame in 1962. The first decade of 1900s had a first issue of
FLIGHT; in that issue was a featuring of the triangle A-frame for aviation.
The Pilcher hang glider had a firm A-frame.

There was no triangle bar Rogallo at Otto Meet of May 23, 1971. The first
triangle bar Rogallo at a So. California meet was Kilbourne's at the Montgomery
meet in August of 1971 (ref: Matt Colver).

Petrel by Bob Trampenau: see history at Seedwings(design in getting some 2008 modern materials redesigning). See his history on the Petrel, Sunseed, and changes. See 1975 revolutionary Sensor.

Hang Glider Weekly
was publisher of some key facts on the innovative company Seedwingswith founder, designer, inventor
Bob Trampenau. We have strong reason to look to roots of VG
--variable geometry-- in Seedwings. The company's Sensor's fiberglass curved wing
tips and the enclosed cross bar were invented by Trampenau and
first flown in 1976 and shown in Hang Glider Weekly. He
further invented wire braced washout struts in 1978 now used on all
topless hang gliders and the wrap-around Mylar leading edge pocket in
1979 all before the UP Comet. Trampenau continued inventing; and
he first HGMA certified the curved wing tip, enclosed cross bar,
and an all-wire trailing edge reflex bridle stability system and
VG. The
wire-braced washout struts and wire-reflex bridles are the two most
important stability safety features on today's hang gliders. Another
safety-and performance-feature that is significant are the flaps on a hang
glider. Seedwings owner Bob Trampenau invented the current flap system in
1992, and as yet no one has copied it. The Seedwings
trademark is internationally operated out of the headquarters in California.

HG history enthusiast Scott Perkins lets us have a closer look at Volmer Jensen's VJ-23 cantilevered hang glider. The VJ-23 has been used in various ways, some powered. Seats. Who has gone prone with the it? Click to enlarge. Caption information by All is invited. N474VJ for one of the shown versions; notice Volmer with the swing seat beneath his belt in front of him; he got into the seat after launching. The wheels are for safety. Notice the airspeed indicator. The first VJ-23 is shown at the Dockweiler site where Richard Miller in mid-60s flew the Bamboo Butterfly with friends.

No wheels or seat here. Year? Wheels and seat. Year? Notice the different sitting and wheel arrangement here.

Francis Melvin Rogallo granted an honorary doctorate degree from United States Hang Glider Association for his contributions in research
and leadership on the Rogallo wing that found its way into the foundations of hang gliding and other aircraft.

Jeff Jobe (Seattle, Washington) makes money with Canadian Club whiskey print-ad spot. He flew Glacier Dome in New Zealand in a standard Rogallo-winged hang glider and told a story of meeting huge downdraft. Source of his hang glider?____

June 1972 issue of Popular Science Magazine article by Paul Wahl (pp. 92-94, and 130) provided the lion's share of the "70's boon" marketplace base. The appetite for hang gliders exploded.

Michael A. Markowski Mike Markowski credits Low & Slow for helping him "redirect" his life from his already sharp aeronautical engineering to aeronautics publisher. (Mike has always been considered by Self-Soar Association as the eastern-USA Otto wing of Otto memberships. EAA Hall of Fame: He was inducted on November 9, 2007, at Oshkosh.Mike has some 8 books to his own authorship and some 35 titles published....many key reprints. About His auto-otto: MAMgMAM1 Some copies of his early book:==>The Hang Glider's Bible

Date???: 60-min News, Flight by Faust (and interviewed). Camera strapped to a Seagull III built by Mike Riggs. Flight was from Sylmar area mountain. LZ was rough field that later became used by clubs and schools near the Joe Greblo operation.

Special research call: Mike Koman built a fixed-wing hang glider of double surface and with double tapered wing (chord and thickness). It was of aluminum-tube and wire-rope construction. It had a double-tapered hollowed-out Styrofoam D-tube leading edge that extended back one third of the chord. The D-tube was made by hot wiring block sections of foam using handmade plywood templates of decreasing size from the root to the tip of the wing. Styrofoam ribs between the D-tube sections were capped with thin plywood strips. The trailing edge was thin wedge shaped wood. It was "shrink wrapped" with clear plastic by heating the garage in which it was built with an industrial heater to over 110 degrees. It had its own triangle shaped gray painted plywood trailer where the wings mounted vertically inside the trailer.

David Cronk and Pat Conniary (or Conniry?) and Mike Koman flew it; it had a "nice glide angle," says Koman. According to Koman - Dave Cronk said it was "a beautiful wing". Russell Valderain (spell) ended up with the hang glider and may have some photographs. Al or Roger Sutton in Pennsylvania may have some photographs as the wing was largely built in their Sutton Brothers garage in Pennsylvania. The flights were partly in California where Dave and Pat flew it briefly at Redondo/Torrance Beach. Any information on this historical wing of the 1970s early, please send. EnterData +

Stephan Nitsch had first attempts with hang gliders in 1973, Hanover Germany.[[ [ ] Where was his first flight?]] He is 2007 contemporary hang-glider-history author and hang-glider pilot. His main historical interest is Otto Lilienthal. His Lilienthal and replica, book projects can be seen at www.JumpNFly.here.deSee also Chanute biplane. See movie.

Mike Miller enters hang gliding and begins to make a difference. " My name is Crista Miller. My father Mike Miller helped pioneer the sport of hang gliding. He was sponsored by Bill Bennett and taught many new pilots at Escape Country in California from 1973, and then moved to Elsinore, and owned the Elsinore Valley Hang Gliding Center until early 1980's. (We will be publishing more on Mike Miller [ ] )

Dial Soap TV commercial featured the flying of an experimental hang glider: Koman-Faust cross-spar-less ....!
This was perhaps the first bowsprit cross-sparless hang glider in the
renaissance. In 1800s there were examples of bowsprit cross-sparless flying
machine, e.g. the flying machine of
Frederick William Brearey. No Australian influence; VG base.
National coverage on TV. Faust flew the glider in Simi Valley, CA, as wll as
took the shower shown. Residuals were fully invested to buy a larger printing
press to publish larger issues of Low & Slow and Hang Glider, and
Hang Glider Weekly.

Dan Poynterpublishes first modern major book on Hang Gliding. One of our editors (Faust) was flying on the back cover of the first edition book. It is still selling. His first book was on parachuting. He is self-publishing guru. He spent hours in the Low & Slow and Hang Glider Weekly office with Faust. Big plus to the hang gliding movement---still is.

Tri-State Kite Sales begins with some Bennett devices. Mark Smith. Mark had started flying earlier in a local water-ski club with an Obrien kite (Rogallo-winged kite). (Spelling?)

May 10, 1973, Volmer Jensen files for an ornamental design patent for a hang glider, click through HANG GLIDER Jensen et al.Patent number: D233426Filing date: May 10, 1973Issue date: Oct 1974In mild breezes he could just step off of a slope and begin soaring on 20' high ridges. His first private-public flight was (witnessed close up by Irv Culver and Joe Faust) off a concrete bridge in a riverbed in Southern California. Then he had a larger demonstration at Dockweiler Beach. Three-axis control, foot-launched. Notice that this is not a process patent. gVJ1 See above 1972 for VJ-23 photos and videos.

Dear BBC, Your lead sentence in the BBC Web article "Squash Falconer bids
to fly off Mount Kilimanjaro" states: "A paraglider from Derby is
attempting to be among the *first* people to fly from the the summit of
Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for projects in Tanzania."

The second sentence states: "Squash Falconer, from Thulston, is already
the *first* woman to fly from the summit of Mont Blanc.

Note that engineer Thomas Finsterwalder, Albert Leutenmaier and Heinz
Walter made the *first* successful flights from Kilimanjaro in January of
1976 on Finsterwalder's 11 kg "Bergfex" backpack Rogallos. Two are
pictured on the summit (the other snapped the photo).

The unsuccessful flight implied on the Charly website was made in 1975,
also on a Bergfex. The pilot landed in the jungle below the summit, so he
was the very first to fly off Kilimanjaro. I do not have his name,
although Thomas Finsterwalder likely does.

Please also note also that NASA developed and defined 3-pole Rogallos as
"paragliders" in the original literature and that the modern paragliding
community explains that paragliding was invented at this time.

By making no distinction between the two in your article; by placing
emphasis on "first" but not mentioning who was actually first; by failing
to qualify the claim with either the "first legal" or the "first modern
paraglider"; and by stating the group is to be among "the first people to
fly from the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro", you serve to re-write history.

Also, if you wish to defend the article by saying the primary point is
that the group may be the *first* "to raise money for projects in
Tanzania," my opinion is that such a defense is misleading and that the
BBC has sought to confuse aviation history with trivia.

Hang glider by James R. BedeAbstract A hang glider in the form of an aerial wing of airfoil shape is disclosed. The wing is defined by an outer envelope of flexible material inflatable to the airfoil shape and having a plurality of chambers therein each receiving an inflatable bladder. Air inlet openings are provided in the bottom portion of the envelope adjacent the leading edge of the wing. Either the bladders or the chambers are inflated with a gas lighter than air and, during flight, air enters the openings and fills the available space in the others of the bladders or chambers to provide a complete smooth airfoil shape for the wing. Shroud lines are employed to suspend a person beneath the wing during flight.

Hang glider Frank J. Bartolini[Filed on Otto Lilienthal's birthday and Michael Markowski's birthday:]Patent number: 3995799 Filing date: May 23, 1975 Issue date: Dec 7, 1976Inventor: Frank J. Bartolini"Abstract: A biwinged high performance collapsible hang glider having a simplified integrated frame, having a reinforcing cable system, having a variable camber upper swept wing including a sail, with non-rigid leading and trailing edges, and a flexible batten, having a bridge spacing the sail from the frame, having a lower undercambered sail wing including a sail with a tubular leading edge and nonrigid trailing edge, having an optional collapsible Y-tail modification including sail with non-rigid leading edge and hinged tubular-trailing edges, having a low wing-loading effect, a high lift-drag ratio, a high glide-ratio, a low sink-rate and minimal spiral instability, yielding the capability of effective body-english pilot control for short duration training flights or for long duration cross-country flights, and being collapsible so as to be readily transported by a common passenger vehicle."

Patent number: 4029273 Kite Filing date: Nov 13, 1975 Issue date: Jun 14, 1977Inventor: Julius M. Christoffel, Jr. AbstractAn inflatable delta wing kite having a single air chamber formed of a bulbous nose portion and three frusto conical shaped tubular portions forming structural beams, one beam extending along the central longitudinal axis, and the other two forming the leading edges of the kite, the terminal end of the central beam forming a filler tube; generally triangularly shaped, uninflated sections forming airfoils are located between the central and edge beams ...

[#] TV
news: CBS' 60 Minutes "Ever Since Icarus" aired on August 31, 1975.
The following photograph is a still shot during part of the interview. The
photograph is strictly a CBS copyrighted property given for Hang Gliding
Timeline only; any further use of the image must obtain permissions from CBS.

Mark, age 57, a resident of San Juan Island
for 33 years, flew as an international airline pilot for 31 years, has four
earned degrees, and now works with San Juan Island EMS/Medevac to advance our
Island Air Ambulance program. Mark also volunteers at the Friday Harbor Food
Bank and assists the English Language Learners program at San Juan Island
library. He has established two 501.c.3 organizations, and served on five
nonprofit organization boards.
------------
2013 note: Mark Schwinge took four leaves of absence from the airline to
fly for Air Serv, in Africa, and lately served with PACTEC in Laos, developing
ab initio flight training curricula. Earlier this year he helped to ferry
an Air Serv Twin Otter from Uganda to Atlanta, GA. Long legs, long days. Flew
14.2 hours one day (with one stop in Algeria).

Hang Glider Weekly
was publisher of some key facts on the innovative company Seedwingswith founder, designer, inventor
Bob Trampenau. [In 2011 in March, he would join: Torrey Hawks and the US
Hawks!] We have strong reason to look to roots of VG
--variable geometry-- in Seedwings. The company's Sensor's fiberglass curved wing
tips and the enclosed cross bar were invented by Trampenau and
first flown in 1976 and shown in Hang Glider Weekly. He
further invented wire braced washout struts in 1978 now used on all
topless hang gliders and the wrap-around Mylar leading edge pocket in
1979 all before the UP Comet. Trampenau continued inventing; and
he first HGMA certified the curved wing tip, enclosed cross bar,
and an all-wire trailing edge reflex bridle stability system and
VG. The
wire-braced washout struts and wire-reflex bridles are the two most
important stability safety features on today's hang gliders. Another
safety-and performance-feature that is significant are the flaps on a hang
glider. Seedwings owner Bob Trampenau invented the current flap system in
1992, and as yet no one has copied it. The Seedwings
trademark is internationally operated out of the headquarters in California.

Prentice 1974-1975 Mk I and Mk II split wing designs based on sail boat type jib and mainsail. Similar plan form to that of the Platz sailwing. Capable of very slow flight and ridge soaring in light wind conditions with stable flight characteristics. More

Patent number: 4116406Filing date: Jun 17, 1977Issue date: Sep 26, 1978Inventor: Paul D. HamiltonAbstractA high performance hang glider includes a frame to which is attached flexible sail fabric to create a delta-shaped Rogallo wing. The sail is of double thickness throughout a substantial portion of the wing area to provide anHang glider having inflatable airfoil Paul D. Hamilton envelope inflatable in flight by air entering an intake opening at the nose of the wing and exhausting through nozzles in the underside of the wing tips. A more efficient double-surface airfoil is thus provided which automatically changes its camber in response to changes in speed for optimum performance.

HPA Ikarus (Icarus) ground-effect-only man-powered aircraft flies in ground effect just a week after the Gossamer Condor won the big Kraemer Prize. The Ikarus took about 0.5kW to fly. Theoretically we can fly a man-powered craft with less power in ground effect. In ground-skimming during landing we often fly our hang gliders in ground effect; some hang glider pilots specialize in bleeding every inch out of the ground-effect flight sector for fun; appropriate wheels or skid can be used to have safer experiences when flying in ground effect. One needs to prevent catching the airframe on ground obstacles or the ground itself, as beaking or such catches can cause abrupt stops with perhaps fatal results. Be sure to get professional instruction for hang gliding.

========Machine
translation
from French, we quote for study and critique: =========

The glider was "invented" [Ed:
sic, locally and regionally, but not globally, of course]
in Mieussy Haute-Savoie, 35 years ago While Mieussy celebrates birthday
paragliding this Saturday, June 22, back at the history of this invention
born in 1978 on the tip of Point Pertuiset. France 3 AlpesPublished
22/06/2013 | 3:10 p.m. ,
parapente_2.jpg

http://alpes.france3.fr/2013/06/22/le-parapente-ete-invente-mieussy-en-haute-savoie-il-y-35-ans-275287.html
June 1978. Bosson , Bétemps and Bohn already illustrated in competitions
parachute. Their specialty: precision landing. But difficult to practice
regularly when necessary, for each jump mobilize a plane and therefore pay
for the fuel. "If instead of jumping from the plane, it jumped from a high
point?". In answering this question, the three friends invented
paragliding. The high point of the tip Pertuiset . The landing area:.
Mieussy Mieussy then welcomes the France team skydiving but also in
Germany. Yet it still will wait four years to pass paragliding training
method to separate discipline. It will take one of these paratroopers,
only interested in landing, take the time to fly. Now world famous "spot"
of Pertuiset sees off hundreds of paragliders each year.
[[Tip of link from RM; thanks!]]

AbstractAn electronic warning system that alerts a pilot of light-weight foot-launched aircraft that the required pre-launch physical hook-up of pilot-to-aircraft has not been accomplished.

The research on this is still ongoing. Much more will be linked regarding the Canard 2FL. Yet to find out is the circumstances of Dr. Hans Farner's own final moments; it seems clear that notes in the literature are sometimes incorrect as he seems to get mixed up with the distinct other person Prof. Schürch.

We have two speakers so far regarding an effort to clarify matters about the designer of the Canard 2FL:

Canard 2FL

(Jan. 8, 2008 from Gary Osoba) I have received confirmation from the son of Ernst Ruppert, one of the partners in Aviafiber, that Dr. Farner was not involved in the fatal Canard 2FL test flight. He writes:

" Hans Farner was not involved in the Canard accident. As far as I know he never was a Canard-pilot. The fatal accident was with Prof. Schürch from Zurich University which was quite a story since the University got involved in the development of the new Canard SCM version after the accident. It was not simply caused by stall/spin but was a far more complex chain of critical maneuvers based on the difficulties because the sailplane pilot Schürch was confronted by the unusual control system of the Canard 2FL."

Best Regards,Gary Osoba

(Jan. 8, 2008) Professor Michael Schönherr shares with us:

I remember the following:

1. At the end of 1978 or 1979 I got the message, that a professor of the ETH Zurich was killed by a Canard 2FL - accident, because, as reported, he had used the controls the wrong way. The Canard 2 FL managed the directional control by rolling the front wing, the "canard-wing", so the lift of the front-wing delivers, when in a bank-angle, a lateral force-component and a torque around the vertical axis of the plane.

2. Later I heard from a person, involved in the accident-investigation, that the accident's reasons were clearly found:

Let´s imagine, that the glider makes a strong yaw-movement to the left. The pilot wants to compensate for that and rolls the canard-wing strongly to the right hand. Because of the high yaw-angle, the front wing however, with his now high right hand bank-angle comes into negative angle of attack, his lift becomes negative and delivers a lateral force-component to the left, just the opposite, that was intended. This way the Canard 2 FL plane came completely out of control until the impact.

Thus the investigation result.

(In 1980 I constructed a flexible model canard myself with the same front-vector control principle, with the difference that the canard wing could swivel down around a hinge in his leading edge, so that he did not accept negative lift. Thus I never had any control-problem, see also: http://www.net-art.de/mech/Geschichte4/Drachenente/default.htm )

AbstractA remotely controlled powered aircraft equipped with engine, propeller and landing gear, radio-controlled from the ground and capable of towing a manned hang glider to an appropriate altitude. On reaching altitude, the pilot of the hang glider releases the tow, and the pilotless towing aircraft is returned to the launching site under radio control from the ground. During towing of the hang glider, two-way communication is maintained between the hang glider pilot and the towing aircraft remote pilot. Remote control hang glider towing aircraft Marlin K. Klumpp

David Cook flying VJ23 video Some builders chose to power the VJ-23. Designed by Volmer Jensen. See also early 1970s for Volmer Jensen flying his first VJ-23 at Dockweiler Beach. Hang glider history researcher and enthusiast Scott Perkins tells us: "It should be noted that this tapered 32 ft span cantilever wing at the root has a sixteen inch (16"-repeated for accuracy) or 40.6 centimeter spar thickness! At the root, the chord was 79 inches (200 centimeters). The designer stated that each of the two removable wing panels weighed 30 pounds." Read more about David Cook [AKA Dave Cook. David G. Cook; sometimes an "e" would be found on the last name.] DC1DCbmaa[Year of book's publication? [ ] ]

"Alaskan
Sky Sailors Association, had formed in 1973 or 1974 and for a time had over a
hundred active members flying at Hatcher Pass, Eagle River, Girdwood, Fairbanks
and other places in large numbers."